


Tony

by Destiel_is_Classic



Series: Him Not Me [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Pining Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 09:49:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16093160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiel_is_Classic/pseuds/Destiel_is_Classic
Summary: Steve meets Tony for the first time.





	Tony

The coffee shop was sweltering, stuffy and packed full of students trying to suck some caffeine into their bloodstreams anyway they could short of straight lining it. Steve hated coming here, hated when he forgot his favorite mug on the counter and is forced to pinch pennies together so he can stay awake long enough to survive his last few classes of the day. For the millionth time he wishes he’d taken the scholarship to the art school in New York. He loved art, he could spend his whole life painting or drawing if he willfully wished, but he could never lose his first love for architecture. As the line moved forwards once more he sighed deeply remembering that this school was offering him more than he could ever imagine and having to pinch their luck a few times was worth it.

He could practically hear Bucky in the back of his head, leaning against him, cigarette dangling from his lips. His application for the Army dangling from his fingers still unsigned and still a twisted knife embedded in Steve’s chest.

_“Are you going to do it?” He whispered._

_Bucky had shrugged deeply thwapping the papers against his knees, Thwap, thwap, woosh. “Open the envelope, Stevie, didja get in?”_

_Steve opened the crisp white envelope slowly, feeling a paper cut slice across the pad of his thumb ignoring it to slip the folded up sheet of paper out. Bucky had hollered so loud the neighbors dog howled back in unison, causing a blush to rise up the blond’s neck._

_“Hot damn Stevie M.I.T wants ya, I knew it!”_

_Steve swiped his left knee, “Sit down you deviant. It doesn’t mean I’m going to go, my scholarship is for any school I choose and maybe I’ll go to NYU, stay close by you,”_

_“Take it, Stevie, they’re offering you a scholarship, man, a near full-ride you just hav’ta work hard. This place, Punk, this place will get you through doors you never dreamed of opening,” “_

_What about you Buck,”_

_“We’ll figure it out.”_

Figuring it out meant Bucky had applied to a nearby community college that allowed for extension classes to be had on the university campus. It meant Steve worked grueling hours at the campus library during the school year, a coffee shop and a children’s club during the summer while Bucky worked nearly every free time in construction just to afford to survive.

‘Next,” The bored, nasally voice of the girl behind the coffee counter made Steve flinch as he came back to reality and stepped forwards prepared to ask for a single black coffee when someone cursed loudly and his brain barely registered the burning liquid dripping down his chest because the prettiest set of brown eyes he has ever seen was starting up at him in apologetic annoyance.

‘Fuck, fuck man, dammit why did you run into me? Shit, dude, are you okay? Oh my God your shirt is ruined, I am so sorry, but really it was your fault, you should have looked, or at least noticed that I was turning around. Are you okay? Does it hurt? Come here, sit down,” He didn’t have time to process anything the brown-eyed stranger was saying before being tugged towards a rare and free table near the back of the coffee shop. The other man settled Steve down before dropping to his knees and lifting Steve’s shirt.

That brought him back to reality.

“Woah,” Steve shoved his shirt back down, wincing at the friction across his sensitive skin.

“Oh he speaks,” The stranger grunted tugging at Steve’s shirt again getting it above his belly button before Steve shot backwards in the chair.

“Can you please stop,” He shoved the shirt back down, moving as far away from the stranger as the wall would let him.

Deep brown eyes flashed with amusement, “Shy? Don’t be, Darling, I’ve seen my fair share of gorgeous men shirtless,” He waved his hand, a bandage wrapped around the palm, “Besides I’ve taken some medical classes I just wanted to make sure I didn’t burn you,”

Steve fell silent peering at the young man before looking down at his shirt and sighing at the drying coffee stain. It was his nicest polo the only one he owned that wasn’t stretched, stained (not anymore) or ripped. With a sigh he lifted the hem to expose the reddened skin below, fingers tracing the edge of the tender flesh but not seeing any developing blisters. A small groan pulled Steve’s eyes away from his examination to notice the stranger was looking up at the ceiling, a blush peeking out from his shirt collar. Steve raised an eyebrow clearing his throat to get the stranger’s attention and ask what's wrong but before he could vocalize his worry the stranger shook his head.

“I was wrong, so very wrong, you are not just a gorgeous boy- you, oh you darling are a damn Adonis, truly magnificent and if I were not raised with proper etiquette, and wow would Jarvis be very proud of me right now, I would be crawling into your lap to see if you taste as good as you look. Oh,” The man noticed Steve’s expression, “Oh shit, sorry man, not gay? Damn, my meter is off are you-”

“Bi,” Steve interrupted the man’s rant.

“Huh?”

“I think that's the correct term? I like both? Well, I prefer men-” Steve’s sentence died off slowly watching as the stranger licked his lips slowly, eyes darkening.

“Well then,” He leaned closer to Steve, the hand that had been resting loosely on Steve’s knee suddenly came to life, edging up his thigh carefully each slide tracked steadily by Steve’s eyes, “How can I make up for you making me spill my coffee all over you,”

Steve snorted.

Brown eyes moved back, raising an eyebrow, head cocking to the side, “Didn't mean to offend,”

“Then stop saying it's my fault and,” He tugged his shirt out of the man’s fingers, “Stop trying to undress me,”

Finally, the man dropped his hands lifting off his knees to stand over Steve, arms crossed with a huff. He looked over his shoulder towards the coffee line then back at Steve a funny look drawing his eyebrows together before he rolled his shoulders back and stuck out a bandage covered hand, “Hi, I'm Tony, I'm sorry for spilling coffee on you,”

\--

Tony was, for lack of a better word, eccentric.

He almost never stopped talking, his words sometimes bleeding into each other becoming their own language until Steve’s ears stopped being able to decipher what he was saying and he’d have to ask the man, the kid Jeesh he was barely eighteen, to slow down or at least remember that Steve couldn’t read his mind.

“Sorry, Darling, I do tend to ramble whenever I’m not well occupied,” Tony would cock his head to the side, dark eyes flashing and in those moments Steve would swear they were a deep blue before he moved and they’d be back to the prettiest shade of brown he had ever imagined.

He’d blush, “Just remember some of us aren’t already on our second degree."

He would always be doing something with his hands never once sitting or standing still, legs always bouncing, fingers always moving and sometimes he’d have two to three screwdrivers on him at one time. The first time Steve ever saw Tony outside of the coffee shop they met or the library he was carrying a very heavy looking briefcase, a screwdriver tucked between his fingers, a coffee cup pressed to his chin as another screwdriver was tucked behind his ear. He had smiled at Steve, dark eyes flashing as he bounded towards him already going off about this project he was working on with a lab partner named Bruce.

Above all things Steve had grown to enjoy about Tony’s, well, personality since he had met the young man was that he never made Steve feel insignificant. He never made him feel cheap, or of lesser value because he couldn’t afford the coffee shop every day of the week, he couldn’t afford to miss work or that he sometimes had to wear the same shirt three days in a row because laundry detergent was a luxury not a given.

He especially didn’t judge Steve when he found him bent over the Chemistry book that might as well have been printed in Spanish with how well Steve understood it. Hands in his hair trying to make sense of a chemical compound Steve couldn’t grasp why he needed to know. He’d simply grabbed the text, tugged a highlighter out of Steve’s bag and begun explaining the different components in simpler terms than even the teacher had broken them down into.

Steve had decided right then he might have been falling for the kid.

\--

Steve had only known Tony for about six months when the younger man kissed him, just a soft little thing that made Steve’s cheeks burn and he wasn’t even sure it had actually happened until he felt the slight turn of Tony’s head.

He had gotten off early, his boss letting him spend extra time studying for exams when Tony had come the library coffee in hand and books of his own, Stowing away at “their” table in the back of the library, one hidden behind the stacks of documentaries and herbology texts where one light flickered off and on and people were extra quiet afraid to break the spell of silence. They’d been there for two, three hours leaning against each other as Steve read over pages and pages of the Architectural Geometry and The Future of Architecture. His fingers covered in marker spots, ink and somehow grease from where he brushed against Tony.

Tony himself had basically dozed off against Steve's shoulder his robotics text left half closed with a screwdriver wedged between the pages as a makeshift bookmark. His body had gone lax about an hour ago, breathing deep until he suddenly jerked away brushed drool from his chin only to close his eyes and doze off again. Steve had lowered himself in his seat allowing the kid to have a better angle on his shoulder, his hair tickling Steve’s cheek the scent of sandalwood and coconut a strange concoction that calmed Steve’s pounding heart.

Steve had closed one book, stretching his fingers and tried not to rouse the sleeping man when he felt the weight shift and suddenly warm, soft lips were pressing into his cheek subtly enough he thought Tony had simply turned his head but then he felt the breath over his cheekbone, felt Tony’s head turn and a slight tremble to his lips as if the kid was nervous Steve would reject him after all this time. Stomach turning into a gooey mess, heart aching as the need to turn his cheek and let their lips slot against each other flashed through him Steve moved his arm up, wrapped it around Tony’s shoulder ignoring the young man’s sound of confusion to tug him into his chest where he rested his lips on top of Tony’s head and let the kid drift off.

Tony might have been smiling the whole time, a slightly curve of his lips as he closed his eyes and drifted off again to the sound of Steve’s breathing beneath his ear.

\--

The look in Bucky’s eyes made Steve’s stomach hurt.

He hadn’t said a word since they climbed into the truck, his jaw twitching as Steve rambled on about Tony trying to make him understand that this wasn’t just some, some guy he barely knew. That Tony was something special to him, Tony made him feel wanted, Tony made him feel appreciated, Tony never made him feel like he wasn’t good enough or that he was a shadow.

“I really like him, Buck,” He pleaded for his friend to understand. He knew Bucky was going to react negatively when he found out about Tony’s age and that Steve hadn’t said anything about him after nearly nine months of knowing the kid, but it had become such a habit to hide this part of Steve that even after coming out he couldn't quite break the routine.

“I get that,” Bucky grunted leaning into the fridge to grab two beers handing one to Steve who raised a brow but took the offered beverage anyway, “don’t mean I ain’t worried bout’cha,”

Steve sighed, “He’s eighteen, I mean I’m barely three years older than him,”

Bucky’s eyes flashed with something Steve couldn’t decipher, “Not what I meant,”

“Then-”

“I don’t know him. Punk. First guy you’ve shown interest in since ya told me and I barely know the guy,” The brunette dropped his gaze, “Could have at least told me.”

Steve felt a lump rise in his throat, “Do you want to meet him?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I do so hope you enjoy. I finished this tonight while at work and had been trying to finish it as quickly as possible to be able to provide to you wonderful, beautiful people. Comment with your love!!


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